Fabricated farinaceous products prepared from starch-based materials are well known in the art. Doughs used to make these products typically contain farinaceous ingredients such as potato flakes and granules. The fabricated products also contain a number of other starch-containing ingredients such as wheat starch, corn starch, rice starch, etc., however, these ingredients are generally included in the dough, particularly in potato products, in lesser quantities.
A combination of potato flakes and granules are typically included in dough formulas used to prepare fabricated products to impart desirable flavor and texture properties to the finished product. However, several problems arise when combining these ingredients to make doughs. One problem is that the formulator is limited in terms of the amounts of potato granules versus potato flakes that can be used. This is due to several factors, the primary factor being the amount of free starch (i.e., amylose) present in the potato flakes or granules that is available for forming a cohesive dough, once the ingredients are combined with water.
Conventional potato flakes are processed under conditions such that the resulting flakes have level a high level of broken cells which correlates to the level of swollen amylopectin and level of free amylose. Conventional processes also produce flakes having low levels of potato flavor and high levels of processed flavor. Briefly, the flakes are prepared by first washing, peeling and sorting the potatoes. The potatoes are sliced and subject to a cooking process. After cooking, the potatoes are riced, and typically drum dried, followed by a reduction in particle size. The steps of ricing, drum drying, and reducing the particle size, cause a large number of potato cells in the flake to be broken. This results in flakes having a large amount of overcooked amylopectin and moderate levels of free amylose.
When the flakes are used in doughs, the amylose acts as an adhesive and enables the formation of an elastic cohesive dough. The presence of high quantities of overcooked amylopectin results in a rigid dough that is extremely difficult to sheet. Further, when high quantities of overcooked amylopectin are present in the dough, the resulting finished product is hard, dense and glass-like because it is difficult for the dough to absorbs free water. Thus, because the flakes contain little flavor and high levels of overcooked starch, their use in the doughs for making fabricated snacks is undesirable from a processing, texture and flavor standpoint.
Conventional potato granules, on the other hand, generally contain more flavor than potato flakes, a substantial amount of unbroken cells, and relatively very little amylose. Potato granules are typically processed by using an "add-back" process. In this process, potatoes are washed, peeled, sliced, precooked and blanched. Following the precook, the slices are cooled. The precooked and cooled potato (i.e. conditioned) slices are once again cooked. The fully cooked potato slices are mashed, then dried using an air-lift dryer. The mashing step in the granule process is more gentle than the ricing process and does not destroy the potato cells. In the granule process, the precooking step and tempering releases some of the amylose. During the subsequent cooling, the amylose crystallizes and becomes water-insoluble. When granules are used in doughs, the amylose because it is in a water-insoluble form, is not available to function as an adhesive or aid in the formation of cohesive elastic doughs. Therefore, if large amounts of granules are used, additional ingredients that will act as binders are necessary. This is undesirable because it requires the purchase of additional ingredients and may cause the reduction of potato flavor in the final product.
Although it may be possible to remedy the flavor and texture problems in the final products by reducing the amount of flakes and increasing the amount of granules, such a solution carries the risk of reducing the sheetability, cohesiveness and the elasticity of the dough, such that the resulting dough is weak and has low sheetability. This is because the amount of granules needed to make flavor differences in the final product is typically an amount that will interfere with the ability of the amylose to form a cohesive sheet.
The present invention solves this problem by incorporating flanules (starch having properties in between flakes and granules) into the dough composition.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide dough composition comprising increasing amounts of flanules, as a source of dehydrated potato in preparing fabricated snacks.
Another object of the invention is to provide fabricated snacks made from the dough composition comprising flanules.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following disclosure.